Deland To Widen Review Of Police Officers' Gripes

Five Community Leaders Will Help Analyze Complaints About The Chief.

February 26, 2002|By Beth Kassab, Sentinel Staff Writer

DELAND -- Attempting to deter the city's police officers from the notion that little is being done about their concerns about police Chief William Anderson's leadership style, the city announced Monday it would begin a three-month external review of the department.

City Manager Mike Abels said that although he has spent months working with Anderson to quell some of the department's problems, an outside review may be the only way to "regain a status of normalcy."

"Regardless of what I know or don't know about it, I probably don't know everything," he said. "This is a means of ensuring we have a comprehensive analysis of the situation."

Abels called upon community leaders and charged them with evaluating specific aspects of the department. The idea started when Anderson volunteered to be evaluated by two outside police chiefs, Jerry Demings of Orlando and William Liquori of Altamonte Springs.

Some people criticized that move, saying that those two chiefs alone could not provide a thorough, independent review because they know Anderson.

Abels assigned the two chiefs to analyze Anderson's administration, including communication and training, and asked two other pairs of leaders to focus on other aspects of the department.

Local attorneys David Disney and Jim Clayton are charged with interviewing police officers about their complaints and keeping those complaints anonymous.

Former Mayor David Rigsby and Joan Cornett, former president of the DeLand Chamber of Commerce, are responsible for evaluating the community's perceptions of the Police Department.

"This is pretty bold," Rigsby said. "There were some feelings from the men that they felt like they didn't have the focus and attention of the city, and you can certainly put that to rest."

Abels designated Roy Schleicher, executive director of the Volusia Council of Governments, to write a final report and recommendations based on the findings and suggestions of the others.

Abels said he would then consider those recommendations, though he would not speculate what action, if any, they would generate.

Officers have called Anderson a dictatorial and heavy-handed disciplinarian. Their internal turmoil was made public last week when Anderson's leadership style was debated for more than three hours in front of the City Commission. Several officers' wives called Anderson downright "mean" and said their husbands are no longer happy in their jobs.

Anderson came to the department in August of 1999 as the city's first black police chief. He did not return phone calls Monday, though he has said that his discipline tactics are fair and he thinks the discontent in the department is an inevitable part of creating change.

Clayton, one of two attorneys responsible for listening to the officers' concerns, has helped several officers protest Anderson's disciplinary decisions.

"The biggest complaint about Anderson is not the fact that he disciplines, it's the punishment he gives out," Clayton said. "It's overkill. The punishment doesn't fit the crime."

As the external review gets under way this week, officers will also vote on whether to organize under the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. For more than five months, the Teamsters have waged a campaign that has been largely focused on dissatisfaction with Anderson's management style.

The City Commission will have a special meeting tonight to authorize Abels to spend up to $10,000 on the external review. Some of that money will pay stipends to some of the people charged with evaluating the department, he said. He said he did not know what the other costs of the analysis will be.